My Cajun grandparents were dirt poor, never owning any property and just scraping by feeding 6 kids.
Life was tough, my mother told me she never even saw a bathtub until she was 13 and will never forget it.
Before that it was a tub in the back yard. They cleaned their teeth with a fresh twig that they frayed the end of
so it was sort of a brush. Grandma's cooking reflected their simplistic lives.
This is as authentic as it gets for gumbo, and is dang good eating no matter how simple.

1 chicken and liver, gizzard and heart
One large onion or two regular
4 tablespoons bacon fat
3 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper
rice.

Mom said when could get garlic, bell peppers or hot pepper, celery she would use them, sometimes a hock bone.

Melt 1 tablespoon of bacon fat in a large cast iron skillet.
Brown the chicken either whole or cut up, giving the skin a good deep brown burning.

Remove and add the chopped onion, doing the same thing to it.

In a large pot, add the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil to get medium high hot.
Add the flour and stir continuously to allow the flour to brown.
It will burn if you do not stir it constantly, if it starts to smoke, move it off the heat, continue stirring until it calms down and return to heat. Continue cooking until the flour has reached a dark brown/deep maroon color.
Add a few cups of water to stop the cooking and mix with the flour mixture (roux)
add the onions and chicken, more water to cover, salt and pepper, simmer until chicken is done and falling off the bone.

Cook rice separately and serve in bowls with gumbo ladled over the rice.